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| 20 APR 2006 at 12:54pm |
kuddlesPrivate Detective
Posts : 702
Joined: 22 OCT 2004
Status : Online | It depends on what you like. Essentially the puzzles are like Myst, so that will determine how much you like it.
[size=10][b]Games:[/b] Europa Universalis III&&[b]Music:[/b] [i]Awoo[/i] - Hidden Cameras&&[b]Series:[/b] Dexter (S1)&&[b]Movies:[/b] The Prestige (8/10) Little Miss Sunshine (5/10)&&[/size]
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| 20 APR 2006 at 1:43pm |
CulturaJourneyman
Posts : 1337
Joined: 1 SEP 2004
Location: NL, Amersfoort
Status : Offline | Myst is one of my all time favourites. But Myst is quality all over.
I could name quite a few 'myst like games' that are terrible (Alida spring to mind, Rhem2 etc.).
So the game 'being similar to Myst' does not quite do it for me (anymore).
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| 20 APR 2006 at 5:12pm |
kuddlesPrivate Detective
Posts : 702
Joined: 22 OCT 2004
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Cultura (20 APR 2006 1:42pm)
So the game 'being similar to Myst' does not quite do it for me (anymore).
Well, I can't tell you if it'll be your cup of tea since I haven't played it yet, but so far the only people who've seemed to dislike the game are those used to third person games with a lot of dialogue and inventory puzzles. So my guess is that it's one of the better Myst-clones.
[size=10][b]Games:[/b] Europa Universalis III&&[b]Music:[/b] [i]Awoo[/i] - Hidden Cameras&&[b]Series:[/b] Dexter (S1)&&[b]Movies:[/b] The Prestige (8/10) Little Miss Sunshine (5/10)&&[/size]
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| 22 APR 2006 at 12:05am |
| Deleted User | I’ve been playing Keepsake for 3 or 4 days and really like it! The puzzles fit well with the storyline. And I like the fact that they aren’t inventory based at all (so far). They are more like brain teasers and board games.
I think it’s a high quality game – beautiful scenery, solid voice acting, engaging plot (a little thin perhaps), and an endearing character (Lydia). Her ‘sidekick’ (wolf/c**/d***** ?) is fun, too.
I’m at the part where Lydia magically shrinks and is on the s*** inside the b*****. Danged staircases confused my for awhile!
Also, the unobtrusive hint system is helpful without giving everything away.
If you liked the board games in Agon, you’ll probably like Keepsake (Agon’s board games were MUCH harder, however).
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| 22 APR 2006 at 1:28am |
shed22Space Cadet
Posts : 106
Joined: 18 SEP 2005
Status : Offline | :-[ I have waiting for this game for a year, so the problem may be my heightened expectation. Whatever the reason, after two days I am really disappointed. It is a beautiful game, but the voices are bland and the interface is extremely irritating. It is, thus far, significantly less than I hoped for. [smiley=sad.gif]
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| 22 APR 2006 at 1:49am |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By shed22 (22 APR 2006 1:28am)
:-[ I have waiting for this game for a year, so the problem may be my heightened expectation. Whatever the reason, after two days I am really disappointed. It is a beautiful game, but the voices are bland and the interface is extremely irritating. It is, thus far, significantly less than I hoped for. [smiley=sad.gif]
Hi Shed,
Have you got to the transporters yet? or to the floating islands? or the sideways staircase? or the inner rooms of the secret library? I really like those locations.
For me, it’s all about the puzzles. My favorite so far is the main transporter room activation puzzle. I drew diagrams of the four options available at each of the four consoles and turned the game off (saved first, of course) and sat in an arm chair and worked out the answer. It took about 20 minutes or so. I tried my solution and it worked! Then I compared it against the walkthrough and I think my solution takes fewer steps, which is worth paying the full $29.99 price I paid
I’m not sure what about the interface irritated you. Sometimes the cursor won’t light up (especially on the balcony by the stairs to the garden). What irritated me is that every time the game is loaded the sound level option resets to “CAN I BREAK YOUR EARDRUMS NOW?” decibel level.
Voice acting for the dream sequences ARE stilted I suppose. But maybe that’s to distinguish it as a dream? Don’t know.
Keep at it Shed. The 2nd half is better than the opening (I didn’t like the forest stuff in the first half either – Mustavio’s a jerk **hah hah**, or at least he sounds like one).
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| 22 APR 2006 at 2:40am |
shed22Space Cadet
Posts : 106
Joined: 18 SEP 2005
Status : Offline | Hi wowforz,
I'm not at all far into the game. Indeed I just got the power on. The puzzles (Only two so far) have been fine. I simply want to look at what I want to look at, but the game won't let me. e.g. When I went to the store room the first time I wanted to look at the waterfall off the balcony to my right. I couldn't.) I don't hate it, and I rather like the one dream sequence I saw, but there is a level of 'adequacy' that saddens me. I, perhaps unreasonably, expected more. However, I will continue and hope you're right. After I finish Barrow Hill again and then complete my review of that game.)
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| 22 APR 2006 at 3:09am |
| Deleted User | Yeah, there’s a lot to look at, that’s for sure. Later on in the game when certain triggers are tripped, you can get around more and see some really cool scenes, such as from the top of the castle looking down.
You’re playing Barrow Hill? I’m anxious to find a copy. It looks like what I enjoy in adventures. It hasn’t been released here yet. I’ll be interested in reading what you have to say about it in your review.
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| 22 APR 2006 at 6:57am |
RobDSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 382
Joined: 30 NOV 2002
Status : Online | shed22, hang in there. I think you'll see that the game gets much better in the second half.
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| 22 APR 2006 at 12:53pm |
TinklePitIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 74
Joined: 31 JUL 2004
Status : Offline | I pre-ordered Keepsake and just finished it last week. They are fortunate that I didn't write the review for it because I didn't care for it that much. But then, I didn't like Scratches either. However, I DID write the review for Barrow Hill and loved that one.
The graphics in Keepsake are wonderful. Bright, sunny and full of fantastic effects. The citadel (castles are military) is as fantastical as could be imagined. You have to do a bit of wandering around, but you WANT to. You find yourself hoping that there is a new angle or view point which you havn't discovered yet.
The sound and music are perfect. They do help draw you into the game.
The voice acting is..., erm..., embarassing at times. While the actors are professional and everyone has their own dictinct personality, the acting is frequently so over the top that you will want to turn the sound off and just read the subtitles. Scooby Doo would have asked them to tone it down. If I may speak to the actors a moment... Stanislowski is not appropriate to this game. Make a different choice.
The plot was a huge disapointment. The game had such potential, but it degenerated to a morality lesson for a five year old. Even the Power Rangers never sank this low.
There are some very nice puzzles in the game. And some incomprehensable ones. You are not supposed to need a walkthrough because there in a built in hint system. This is quite nice as during the game it lets you know what your nect goal is. Durring the puzzles it gives you up to three hints and then offeres to just solve it. Sometimes I needed the hints. Sometimes they didn't help.
There was one puzzle which I just couldn't figure out how to start (eventually, I accidently walked over a tile on the other side of the room and that turned it on.) There were a couple of puzzles where I just didn't understand what the goal was. The hints all explained how to use the controles, which I knew, but not what the goal was. I had the game solve them and to this day don't know what they were looking for.
Most of the puzzles are quite sophisticated. The experianced gamer will enjoy the challenge.
Which leads us to the question of who this game was written for. Advanced puzzles which will challange an adult but with a plot and acting for a pre-schooler. If you can somehow divorse the two in your head, you will probably enjoy it.
Google search
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| 22 APR 2006 at 1:34pm |
shed22Space Cadet
Posts : 106
Joined: 18 SEP 2005
Status : Offline | AHA! Thanks, TinklePit
You have illustrated my concerns about the game better than I could have. Given that I have not finished it yet (And I will), I'd like to agree with you. It's not at all bad. It's simply not....good! The game seems to be confused about its own intentions.
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| 22 APR 2006 at 7:39pm |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By TinklePit (22 APR 2006 12:53pm)
Most of the puzzles are quite sophisticated. The experianced gamer will enjoy the challenge.
Which leads us to the question of who this game was written for. Advanced puzzles which will challange an adult but with a plot and acting for a pre-schooler. If you can somehow divorse the two in your head, you will probably enjoy it.
I finished Keepsake last night, and I agree with you on this. It makes me wish there was no plot, other than this. Still, the puzzles were fun.
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| 22 APR 2006 at 9:35pm |
jujigatameSchattenjger
Posts : 1976
Joined: 14 FEB 2003
Status : Online | TinklePit agrees with Greg Mueller from Gamespot, wrote these pros and cons for the game:
The Good: Unique and challenging puzzles; handy hint system helps keep the game moving.
The Bad: Some of the worst voice acting you will ever hear; blurry, low-res backgrounds; dull characters and an uninteresting story.
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| 23 APR 2006 at 4:46pm |
MikekellyPrivate Detective
Posts : 612
Joined: 25 JUN 2004
Status : Offline |
The demo is not that good.
The GAME is much better - classic 3rd person adventure game - very solid and fun.
The puzzles are good, interaction and graphics are well-done.
If you liked Syberia you'll like this one too.
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| 23 APR 2006 at 5:06pm |
jujigatameSchattenjger
Posts : 1976
Joined: 14 FEB 2003
Status : Online | I love all third person adventure games!
Must I remind you that this is in your profile?
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| 24 APR 2006 at 8:44am |
LimeIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 15
Joined: 4 MAR 2004
Status : Online |
Hmm.
The voice acting is awful.
It's definatly not a high calibre game. Bit lifeless, rough around the edges
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| 24 APR 2006 at 10:23pm |
shed22Space Cadet
Posts : 106
Joined: 18 SEP 2005
Status : Offline | oes anyone here remember when Syberia came out? Lots of folks were upset (And some still are) because Kate WAlker spent so much time walking or trotting to and fro. If Kate's name was appropriate, Lydia's last name should be "Marathoner". That girl goes to lots of different places, but to the same places lots of times. I get weary just watching the poor thing climb those beautiful, but huge, blue steps.
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| 24 APR 2006 at 11:00pm |
SirDaveGuild Master
Posts : 4941
Joined: 17 OCT 2002
Location: US
Status : Offline | It may be just me, but my sense is that comments like 'handy hint system helps keep the game moving' are beginning to appear in AG reviews. It was in a review of Keepsake and something like 'Things were moving a bit slow in the beginning, but when I used the hint system, everything moved along nicely.' appeared in a Scratches review recently.
I don't understand this type of comment. Of course a hint system is going to keep an AG moving along.....likely very quickly I might add. This shouldn't be considered a positive factor in a review- if you need a hint system to keep the game moving along, something is wrong (puzzles unfair and/or impossible) or that's just the way the game was meant to be (puzzles relatively hard)!
The future ain't what it used to be!
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| 24 APR 2006 at 11:34pm |
VosjeIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 3
Joined: 9 SEP 2004
Status : Online | Very nice game! I loved the theme. The graphics are beautiful, and the puzzles can be a real challenge. Even mind wrecking at times, and I've found myself guilty of using the in build hint system once in a while when I found myself really stumped at a puzzle.
The music fits the setting of the game well and doesn't get repetitive from my experience, but as was stated earlier the voice acting is sub par, sadly. Lydia sounds alright, but the first guy you come across (Mustavio) sended shivers down my spine when his high pitched, ear piercing voice screeched through my speakers, up to the point where I was fast forwarding what he had to say (while quickly reading his text) just to get it over with. What annoyed me the most was that the volume of the voices of the characters fluctuated a lot. One moment Lydia was talking from a distance and her voice was based on that distance it seemed, but when you zoom in on a puzzle where she is standing in front of she sounds REALLY LOUD. Luckily they are redoing the voices for the american version, and hopefully they will take that problem out along with it.
And the end of the game really left an impression on me.
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| 24 APR 2006 at 11:34pm |
MikekellyPrivate Detective
Posts : 612
Joined: 25 JUN 2004
Status : Offline | The voice acting is awful. It's definatly not a high calibre game. Bit lifeless, rough around the edges
The Longest Journey this game is not. It's a playable game that's obviously low budget.
I can recommend it to hard-core gamers only really.
HOWEVER - the game is MUCH improved over the demo - THAT was terrible.
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| 25 APR 2006 at 2:41am |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By SirDave (24 APR 2006 11:00pm)
- if you need a hint system to keep the game moving along, something is wrong (puzzles unfair and/or impossible) or that's just the way the game was meant to be (puzzles relatively hard)!
The most frequent hints were just saying what part of the castle to look through next, not real hints about solving anything. And if you play it you will maybe appreciate what an enormous castle it is and how being hinted at to go to spot x wasn’t such a bad thing.
One of the very worst qualities of a game such as Riven was having to wander around aimlessly hoping that something was connected :. That was torture, not fun. And I notice fewer games have the nerve to waste their player’s time hunting for one pixel out of several billion.
So a hint option doesn’t mean it’s a poorly planned game necessarily does it? Can’t it simply mean the developer wants to be sure it appeals to more than just the hardcore gamer?
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| 25 APR 2006 at 3:41am |
SirDaveGuild Master
Posts : 4941
Joined: 17 OCT 2002
Location: US
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By wowforz (25 APR 2006 2:40am)
Originally Posted By SirDave (24 APR 2006 11:00pm)
- if you need a hint system to keep the game moving along, something is wrong (puzzles unfair and/or impossible) or that's just the way the game was meant to be (puzzles relatively hard)!
The most frequent hints were just saying what part of the castle to look through next, not real hints about solving anything. And if you play it you will maybe appreciate what an enormous castle it is and how being hinted at to go to spot x wasn’t such a bad thing.
One of the very worst qualities of a game such as Riven was having to wander around aimlessly hoping that something was connected :. That was torture, not fun. And I notice fewer games have the nerve to waste their player’s time hunting for one pixel out of several billion.
So a hint option doesn’t mean it’s a poorly planned game necessarily does it? Can’t it simply mean the developer wants to be sure it appeals to more than just the hardcore gamer?
You misunderstand my point, possibly because I didn't express it very well. I don't have a problem with a hint option per se. What I have problem with is the implication that you need a hint option to move the game along as if that is a good thing. It's as if a hint option is integral to the game itself. Now I realize that it may be the reviewer that is implying that when it wasn't the intention of the game's developers; in that case I have a problem with the reviewer and the review!
FWIW: I totally disagree with you about the alleged 'wandering around Riven aimlessly hoping something was connected' bit. I never felt I was wandering around Riven aimlessly hoping something was connected.
The future ain't what it used to be!
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| 25 APR 2006 at 4:11am |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By SirDave (25 APR 2006 3:41am)
FWIW: I totally disagree with you about the alleged 'wandering around Riven aimlessly hoping something was connected' bit. I never felt I was wandering around Riven aimlessly hoping something was connected.
You were probably one of the few who didn't, and I'm happy for you
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| 25 APR 2006 at 4:14am |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By SirDave (25 APR 2006 3:41am)
You misunderstand my point, possibly because I didn't express it very well. I don't have a problem with a hint option per se. What I have problem with is the implication that you need a hint option to move the game along as if that is a good thing. It's as if a hint option is integral to the game itself. Now I realize that it may be the reviewer that is implying that when it wasn't the intention of the game's developers; in that case I have a problem with the reviewer and the review!
So you don’t like hints or you do? Sorry but it’s still not clear to me. It seems too hard to decide on a game by game basis, or trying to divine the intent of the reviewer (who care's - most reveiws don't help at all - I've read the mose glowing reviews for games I couldn't bare to finish and rotten reviews for games I've enjoyed) or the developer. Why does it matter at all? Isn’t it the player’s option to use them or not?
Keepsake can be played from start to finish without using any of the hints. The player must actively click on the “?” icon to get a hint. My impression is that the hints are there so that any level of player can finish the game.
No, in fact I now remember reading an interview with the developers of Keepsake, who basically said they put the hints in so that no player felt they had to quit playing mid-game because they got stuck.
It’s such a minor point anyway and of no consequence, really. You won’t ever play Keepsake anyway because it has Starforce. [ch61514] [ch61514]
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